CLEVELAND, Ohio - The acclaimed American landscape architect James Corner sat on a concrete bench in the newly renovated Public Square Thursday evening and patted the convex curve of its softly pebbled surface.

"You see the little crown on that?" he said, his voice inflected by his native English accent. "It just catches the light."

A man who sees the whole in the part, Corner cited the bench as an example of the high-quality way in which the city carried out the $50 million, 15-month renovation of the square designed by his firm, New York-based James Corner Field Operations.

"This little crown says it all," he said. "It's attention to detail and craft and quality, and the best thing about this city is they did it right. We weren't nickeled and dimed out of granite, out of all this precast [concrete], out of some decent tree specimens, out of quality furniture and lighting, so we're very proud of what we've done."

Corner, 55, visited Cleveland to attend an invitation-only event organized by the nonprofit Group Plan Commission, the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County civic body that carried out the renovation.

The goal of the event, which drew several hundred, was to thank supporters, funders, project managers and workers who completed the project on time and on budget before the Republican National Convention, which served as a motivating deadline.

Those present included city and county officials, employees of Donley's, the square's lead contractor; and LAND Studio, the nonprofit that managed the project.

In a surprise move, the city removed the construction fences around the square Friday morning, quietly opening it to the public and setting off a torrent of photographs shared on social media.

But the commission also announced on Thursday that an official opening and rededication would be held Thursday, June 30, at 11 a.m. with a free ceremony and live performances.

However, the city

The square was notably closed to protect its new greenery during Wednesday's massive parade and rally to celebrate the Cavaliers' NBA championship, which drew more than a million people to downtown Cleveland.

Corner, who spoke from a podium at sunset to the assembled crowd after remarks by Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, praised the city for investing in public space.

He spoke as part of a new urban parks movement sweeping the United States that includes Chicago's recently completed Millennium Park and Seattle's Olympic Sculpture Park.

Corner's firm co-designed New York's High Line Park, which turned an abandoned elevated rail line on Manhattan's lower West Side into a wildly popular open space that has sent adjacent real estate values skyrocketing.

Design matters

"Cities that double down and invest in well-designed public spaces - especially public spaces done right and to a high standard of care - are investing in their own success," Corner told the crowd Thursday. "Design matters and makes a huge difference."

He called the new Public Square "an open platform for public life, for celebration, enjoyment and delight; a place for workers, residents, families, children and visitors; a real democratic center."

Laid out in 1796 as a New England-style town square by surveyors under the leadership of city founder Moses Cleaveland, the 6-acre civic space had looked tired and dowdy and unloved for decades before the renovation.

Corner's design called for removing Ontario Street from the square and narrowing Superior Avenue from 77 to 48 feet. It also prescribed a vast green lawn and two hilltops north of Superior Avenue, and a plaza, a water feature, a cafe and enhanced landscaping around the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on the south side.

"I think it's fabulous," Corner said Thursday during a conversation about the finished result. "I'm pleasantly surprised by just how open it feels, and I'm reminded how it used to feel when it was quite claustrophobic and you had very few long-distance vistas.

Open feel

"Now it feels great. You can see all the [straight-line] axial views to the surrounding buildings. And the buildings around are much more vivid and the historical monuments seem to have much more dignity and presence. Before, they were hidden."

Corner said his design was meant to unify the square, and he's satisfied that the finished product delivers on that goal through features including a perimeter path that flows across Superior Avenue to bring the north and south sides of the space together.

He acknowledged that the curved shapes of the square's concrete benches - made of hundreds of individual parts molded in concrete - would not have been possible without computer technology.

"It's modern and contemporary," Corner he said of the design. "It's in the Zeitgeist of our time."

He also said the project honors the classical architecture and planning of Cleveland, which dates back to the early 20th-century government buildings around the square and the adjacent Mall planned by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham for the original 1903 Group Plan Commission.

"We have a center, we have symmetry, we have strong diagonals," he said. "All those traditional moves honor the importance of this space, which should be timeless.

"We didn't want an overly convoluted design that in 20 years looks dated. Creating a center and symmetry and formal clarity are things that will make this space live and work a hundred years from now."

Classic and contemporary

When asked how he thought the square would function during the Republican convention, Corner said he would be excited if it became a focal point - without violence.

"I want to get photos of it packed with democratic protest," he said. "I like the notion that what we do isn't only beautification and place-making, but that we're providing real platforms for democracy to play out in all its forms.

"If we can have rallies and speeches and protests here, that's fabulous," he said. "That's democracy in action for everybody to see and take part in instead of being at home in front of the TV. If you don't have spaces like this, where else can you participate in real public life?"

Corner didn't comment directly on the politics of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has called for building a wall at the Mexican border and barring immigration by Muslims.

Public space, public life

But he said he thought high-quality public parks are in line with the more "liberal, and tolerant and inclusive" views of Americans who live in cities.

"I don't understand why you would want to close borders and be protectionist and provincial and have lockdowns and create a divided society," he said. "It's unfathomable to me."

Ultimately, he said he hoped that spaces such as Public Square could be "a big part of getting all of us to live together in a little more harmony."

Scanning the park at dusk, where partygoers had removed their shoes to wade in the shallow pool created by the nearby water feature, he said: "Look at this. It's great!"

But would the square stand up to punishment if things get rough during the convention?

"It's robust enough," Corner said. And he again patted the concrete bench on which he sat.